Talk less, work more

 The Kerala government’s motive behind asking its employees to restrict personal calls at work must have been noble. But one fears that this measure would not bear much fruit. Many such well-meaning directives have been issued in the past by various state governments to their employees. But most of these instructions are ignored. In this case too it is likely that very few government employees would take this order seriously and end their private conversations during office hours.

It is true that the extensive use of cellphones at work creates a major distraction for the employees and causes utmost inconvenience to people visiting government offices to avail themselves of some service. But no order from the authorities would be able to solve this problem unless there is a change in the attitude of the employees towards their job. If this change can be brought about, it is possible that they will voluntarily switch off their mobile phones while on duty.

Yours faithfully,

K.A. Solaman

The Telegraph, Calcutta on 21 June 2012